Bachelors and Bathtimes
by MimiNeshomeleh
Summary: When the phone rings at three in the morning Ziva is never sure whether it is her boss calling about a murder or because something terrible has happened. She wont know until she answers the call. Established Tiva. Rated T I don't own anything to do with NCIS.


Bachelors and Bathtimes

Ziva scrunched up her face as the sound of her cell phone woke her from a peaceful sleep. She was momentarily confused as she orientated herself to her surroundings. The pillow was softer than her own, the duvet lighter and she was surrounded by the scene of Tony's sweet cologne…she was at Tony's apartment. She was very confused about why he was not there with her, until she remembered that he had gone out with college friends that evening for a bachelor party. She remembered being unsure about whether Tony going along to the party was a good idea, they had just finished up a long and difficult case that had left him shaken and she was concerned about him going out without her.

"David." She answered, her speech still slurred from sleep. She hadn't bothered to check who was on the end of the phone before she answered, usually she would have looked first to ensure that it was not her father calling but her exhaustion had made her forgetful.

"Uh….is this Ziva?" A male voice asked, it was a voice unknown to Ziva. Confused, Ziva realized she had not checked who was calling and became even more confused when she pulled the phone from her ear and saw Tony's name on the screen.

"Yes, this is she." She replied cautiously, getting a bad feeling and trying to holt her brain from going to the worst case scenario – Tony had been kidnapped and they were calling for a ransom.

"Hi, I'm Mike and uh…I'm a bartender at Blue Lagoon on M street. We're getting ready to close up and I have Tony here. I tried to call him a cab but uh…he's really wasted and he looks like he's been in a fight. I asked him if there was anyone I could call and he asked for you." The man sounded nervous, concerns perhaps that Ziva would be angry that Tony had become drunk and ended up injured. Instead she breathed a sigh of relief, drunk she could cope with but kidnapped she could not.

"Is he alone?" Ziva asked, not understanding why his friends would have left him alone, especially after a fight.

"Yes Ma'am. Is there any possibility you could come and pick him up? If not I'm sure I can get him into a cab."

Ziva groaned, she really didn't want to go outside and to pick him up but she also really didn't want him in a cab alone while he was that drunk, emotionally exhausted from the their recently closed case and obviously injured from a fight.

"Yes I will collect him, I am in Bethesda so it will take me 20 minutes to get to you." Ziva hung up without waiting for a response.

Flicking on the lights as she got out of bed she shuddered against the cold February air. She had gone to bed in just one of Tony's large T-shirts and so as quickly as she could she pulled on a pair of long black yoga pants and one of Tony's Ohio State hoodies.

The drive to Blue Lagoon was uneventful, as she had expected. At three in the morning on a Sunday there was little in the way of traffic between Tony's Maryland apartment and central DC. She pulled up outside the bar, parking easily on a space in the street outside, she had expected to see Tony waiting for her at the curb but frustratingly he was nowhere to be seen. She grumbled as she got out of the car and into the icy wind, causing her skin to become covered in goose pimples. She was going to kill Tony's friends when she found where they'd gone. She entered the dark bar slowly and cautiously, her eyes adjusting to the dark and allowing her to see more clearly as she pushed through the internal door. She could see that the only people left in the bar were Tony and a man behind the bar that he assumed to be Mike.

"Hey Tony, look Ziva is here!" The young man smiled brightly at Ziva as he continued to clean the bar. Tony looked up from his position at a table with his elbows on the table and his head in his hands, he attempted to smile but this soon turned into a grimace when he remembered the split in his lip.

"Hey Baby, how did you get here?" Tony was usually a happy drunk and very often lacked any filter for his words. Much like when he had been given painkillers, he also often made little sense.

"I drove here Tony, in my car. What happened to your face?" She asked calmly, sitting down at the table in front of Tony and rubbing her thumb over her split lip.

Ton winced again, "Funny story really. Bret and Brandon wanted to go to a strip club with Marco, you know, because he's about to get married next week. I didn't want to go, why would I want to go? Do you know what happens in strip clubs? Bad things happen in strip clubs Ziva. Marco told me that I should go, that if I was worried about you getting mad at me for going them I should tell you to chill out….didn't like that so I punched him." Ziva sighed as she listened to Tony's words, she had spent a lot of time with Tony's friends over the years and considered them friends but this did not blind her to the fact that they could often behave like testosterone fueled frat boys. It came as no surprise to Ziva that an incident like this had occurred but she also knew that they had all been drunk and that once morning arrived all would be forgiven between them.

"Irit will be pretty mad if Marco has a black eye in their wedding photos." Ziva chuckled at the thought, speaking of Marco's fiancé. Irit Cohen had been a very close friend of Ziva's since they were children, she had moved to New York to attend college and had stayed in the US once she graduated with a law degree. About three years ago she had been successful in securing an internship in reproductive medicine and the George Washington Hospital and she and Ziva had been practically inseparable since. Ziva had reluctantly introduced Irit to Marco at a barbecue that Tony and his friends had arranged for the 4th July about six months after Irit had moved to DC. They had hit it off immediately and both Tony and Ziva knew the couple would end up together. Marco had proposed to Irit just six months later.

"Come, I need to take you to the emergency room to get stitched in your lip and then we must go home to bed." She moved from her seat and around the table to Tony, pulling him up and wrapping her arms around him to support him as he stumbled towards the door.

"You're so beautiful, did you know that?" Tony slurred as Ziva rolled her eyes, thanking the bartender as they left.

They pulled up to the Emergency Room at the George Washington Hospital which was unusually empty. Ziva was exhausted and thanks god that they were in and out in less than an hour and back in the car on the way back to her apartment, which was much closer to the hospital than his.

"Are you okay Sheli?" Ziva asked as she drove.

There was no response, Tony was fast asleep with his face pressed against the cold glass of the window.

*-Tiva-*

Light streamed through the crack in the curtain of Ziva's bedroom, waking Tony with bright rays of warmth. He rolled over slowly, expecting to find Ziva snuggled in next to him, he was however met with cold sheets. He groaned, opening his eyes and noting that it was already 11:30, he wasn't sure what time he got home last night or even how he had got home last night but the pounding of his head and the pain in his face told him it must have been a crazy night.

Slowly, so as not to anger his pounding head, he pulled himself to his feet. He could hear Ziva moving about in the kitchen and after a quick stop in the bathroom to pee, brush his teeth and find out why his face was hurting so bad, he went off to find her.

"Hey Babe." He spoke softly as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She smiled brightly and sunk back into his arms, she usually hated nicknames but she allowed that one to stick, when not overused of course.

"Boker Tov." Ziva turned in his arms to inspect the damage to his face and the near row of three stitches that held his lip together. They'd been told by the nurse who had stitched him up that she would try her best not to stitch in a way that would leave a scar but stitches on lip skin very often left scars. The nurse hadn't quite understood the humor when Tony had joked that it was okay, he would just add it to his collection.

"What happened last night? How did I get home?" Tony asked, clearly not remembering anything after his last six beers and four shorts of Saki at the sushi restaurant they had been to.

"I collected you from Blue Lagoon on M Street, you had a fight with Marco about not wanting to go to a strip club, I took you to the hospital, you got stitches and we came home to bed." Ziva could see all of the memories of the evening coming back to him. Tony groaned once he realized what had happened, he leant his head against Ziva's shoulder as she chuckled happily.

It wasn't often that Tony got in fights but when he did they usually involved Ziva. They had not been together officially for long, just coming up for a year, but both acknowledged their relationship extended far beyond those eleven months. They both had a silent understanding that, even though there had been other people in their lives, they had really been together since he had hauled her out of the desert hell hole they found her in in Somalia.

"That was not how the night was supposed to go, I was really looking forward to sushi and a few drinks and coming home by midnight and snuggling with you. How mad is Irit?" He groaned again, resting his forehead again on Ziva's shoulder.

"You're very lucky, I think you must have hit him on the side of the head. Irit called this morning to make sure you made it home safely after she'd heard about the drama from Marco. I think she is more angry with him than with you." Ziva chuckled again, patting his cheek gently as she enjoyed the feel of his strong arms around her.

After everything they'd been through he savored every moment that he had to hold her in his arms.

"Are you hungry?" She asked, cupping his cheek again and smiling at him before pressing a gently loving kiss to his lips.

"Always and I can smell your amazing shakshouka. There is something I want to talk to you about first though, come sit down with me." Ziva frowned at Tony's words, they rarely had very serious discussions that required sitting down, even after big fights they usually made up very quickly and the atmosphere was always relaxed.

Unsure of what was about to happen Ziva sat on the edge of the couch, a not insignificant part of her concerned that he might be about to end things and run.

"The lease is up to my apartment next month and I wanted to ask you what you would think about me not extending for another six months and maybe moving in here?" It felt suddenly like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Ziva wasn't sure why it should be feeling like this, it seemed like a perfectly logical solution. They were for all intents and purposes living together anyway, they had barely spent a night apart for the last year.

"It made you nervous to ask this yes?" A small smirk came across Ziva's face, she was quietly enjoying how uncomfortable this was making him.

"Well yeah sure…after all we're much less Allie and Noah in The Notebook and much more…Harry and Julie in Miracle Mile." Ziva figured that he must have been really nervous, given that it took him so long to find a suitable movie reference. Ziva smiled reassuringly and leaned forwards, placing her hands on his cheeks and bringing his face to meet hers in a gentle kiss.

"We already spend every single night together Tony, this is the only logical thing to do. Why spend money on an apartment we almost never use?" Ziva snuggled into Tony's arms as she spoke, showing him just how relaxed she was about the prospect of him giving up his apartment and moving into her home.

"Okay great, when should I move in?" Tony asked remaining slightly anxious, the adrenaline from the home conversation still finding its way out of his body.

Ziva patted his chest lovingly before replying, "I thought you already had."

*-Tiva-*

If Tony thought talking to Ziva about moving was a challenge then he'd seriously underestimated how awful it would be to talk to Gibbs. Tony and Ziva's relationship was something they had never openly disclosed to those at work but everyone without their immediate team just knew it was happening. He'd debated with himself never saying anything at all but then the scenario of Gibbs finding out in another way, like his next inevitable hospital visit, was even more awful that telling him to his face and so Tony had decided that the best thing to do was to just get it over with.

The moment presented itself just after lunch and Tony knew that he had to just go for it.

"McGee, Ziva, question the store clerk who saw Captain Williams the night that he died. I wanted to know exactly what he bought in that store." Gibbs barked the order in true Gibbs fashion and both McGee and Ziva collected their gear quickly and headed towards the elevator.

Tony approached Gibbs' desk cautiously, the change of address form held tightly in his hand.

"Something you need DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked firmly, looking up from the evidence file on his desk and deep into Tony's eyes.

Tony cleared his throat and wordlessly placed the change of address form down on the desk.

"That Ziva's place?" Gibbs knew exactly where that address was and also knew that it belonged to Ziva. It had been the first home she had purchased in the US and he had been there to view it with her and had helped her build some shelving units in the large living room.

"Yeah, it's a big place you know so it makes sense that we live there, and she owns it so there's more security in that. Something permanent." Tony repeated the wish he knew that Ziva had on her return from Somalia, to have something that was permanently hers that no one could take away.

Ziva's apartment was beautiful. It was a large three bedroom penthouse in Georgetown located within an old chocolate factory that had been converted into apartments. She'd purchased it outright with money she had inherited from the sale of her father's apartment in Tel Aviv, she had been reluctant to accept and use the money at first but Orli Elbaz and reassured her that Eli David had never used blood money for personal purchases. The Tel Aviv apartment had been purchased with hard earned salary and moneys from Rivka David's life insurance.

The entrance to the apartment was grand, it was within a gated community and had a large marble staircase that led from the ground floor to the four floors above. Ziva lived in apartment 402, there was just her apartment and one other on the fourth floor of the building. It had a large entry way that ended in the extensive L shaped living room and kitchen. It had a large en-suite master bedroom with the most comfortable super king bed, along with two further large bedrooms. The en-suite bathroom was Ziva's favourite room in the house, it was decorated with beautiful pale grey ceramic tiles that covered the floor and walls and had a large sky light which let in ample natural light. There was a large deep standalone bathtub with the taps in the middle meaning that two people could comfortably sit in the tub, one at each end. Tony often found Ziva soaking in the tub, surrounded by her favourite lavender scented bubbles.

"You plan to make this permanent Tony?" Gibbs asked with a firm fatherly tone to his voice. Ziva was just a few weeks younger than his daughter Kelly had been and over the last nine years of knowing Ziva she had definitely moved firmly into the daughter section of his heart.

"Sure do Boss." Tony answered with an air of confidence that he hadn't expected from himself. He was suddenly absolutely sure that he wanted Ziva to be his wife and the mother of his children.

"Don't make me regret saying this DiNozzo, congratulations." A sly smile spread across Gibbs' face, "well don't just stand there, gear up and meet me at the car. Need to question the wife." With that Tony turned and grabbed his gear, heading for the elevator and giving himself an imaginary high five as he went.

*-Tiva-*

Questioning the wife had taken much longer than planned, it had gone from a simple interview to chasing her through the streets and arresting her for the murder of her husband. Consequently, Gibbs had allowed Ziva and McGee to go home early once they had spoken to the store clerk, while he and Tony processed the wife through custody.

It wasn't until a few minutes before nine that Tony pushed open the door of Ziva's apartment.

"Ziva?" He called out, mostly so that she knew it was him coming through the door rather than finding out where she was, he knew exactly where she would be.

"Bathroom," she confirmed the location in which Tony had suspected she would be. He walked down the corridor after toeing off his shoes and approached the door of the bathroom which she had left slightly ajar. As he opened the door he found Ziva exactly where he expected her to be, submerged in the full tub surrounded by bubbles and steam that smelt of delicious sweet lavender with her kindle in her hand.

"Case closed?" She asked, smiling up at him as he lent down to kiss her.

"Case closed. Mmm, those bubbles taste as delicious as they smell." Tony kissed her again, pulling away ever so slightly before pressing several lighter kisses against her lips.

"Join me if you would like." Ziva winked at him as she spoke, a wicked smile crossing her lips. He wanted to join her so badly, he loved co-ed bath time with Ziva but he really needed to take a shower, he'd had to arrest Captain Williams' wife in a filthy alleyway that he was sure was frequented only by vomiting drunks.

"I want to, I really really want to but I need to shower, I'll go into the guest bathroom." Tony kissed her one last time before moving towards the door. He paused in the doorway and looked back at her, naked and surrounded by bubbles with a happy smile on her face. He groaned painfully before moving back into the hallway and towards the guest bathroom. Ziva chuckled to herself, she loved this side of Tony; the loving, kind and affectionate side that wanted to spend time with her no matter what she was doing.

When both were dried off and dressed comfortably in pyjamas they found themselves on the couch with pizza. Tony was sat with his feet on the coffee table and Ziva had her back against the arm of the couch with her feet in Tony's lap. Pizza finished, Tony began to gently massage Ziva's small feet. It amazed Tony really how small Ziva was, she was stronger than anyone else he knew, despite weighing just 110 pounds dripping wet and with tiny size five feet. Ziva winced as Ton pressed his fingers delicately against the pinky toe of her right foot.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked, worried that he had found an injury on Ziva that he was unsure how had happened and whether she needed medical attention.

Ziva closed her eyes, she knew the source of the pain in her foot was Somalia and it was something that she hated talking about.

"My foot was broken…in Somalia. Ducky told me there had been a fracture there that had not healed well. Today I tripped and crushed my toe and now it hurts." Tony gently rubbed Ziva's foot, trying to ease her anxiety as well as his own. Despite having been back for all these years, Somalia was something that they did not openly talk about. She knew that Tony knew the horrors that she experienced while in that camp and he was intimately familiar with the scars on her body which were finally beginning to fade but she couldn't say the words.

Tony hated all association with their time in Somalia, he got a physical pain every time he thought about it. Every time she shared a little more of what happened that pain seemed to get worse.

"I'm so sorry." Tony whispered, pulling Ziva's ankles causing her to slide across the couch so that her butt was against his legs and the rest of her body was in his lap. He would never stop feeling guilty about what happened. Had their relationship been more stable back then maybe she wouldn't have fallen into bed with Michael, returned to Israel and ended up in a terrorist camp in the middle of the desert.

"It is not your fault Tony. That time has passed now, I want this to be a happy home, not a home filled with ghosts that followed us back from Africa." Tony knew Ziva was referring to Saleem and the rest of the evil men that made fulfilling his evil plans their life's work. Tony pulled her further so that she was fully in his lap. He'd never loved another person as much as he loved Ziva.

"I will be Baby, I promise. I love you." He whispered against her lips, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could.

"I love you," she responded also in a whisper, she couldn't muster the strength to speak the words with sound. She wrapped her arms around Tony just as tightly as he had wrapped his around her. They needed each other, they always had and now they were safe. Time stood still when they held each other, she was here and she was alive and that's all that really mattered.


End file.
